2013
Autospeak-Straight Talk contains articles covering digital and social media marketing social communities and events marketing
I would like to step back from posting an article today to get feedback from you on how you feel about your marketing initiatives and answer questions that are important to you.This is an opportunity for you to get questions answered and get information on how you might initiate or improve on your current marketing platform and initiatives.
 We would like to hear from you about your individual needs, concerns and problems you may be experiencing in relation to your particular business.
None of us have all the answers but our experienced staff will do its best to answer your inquiries and get you the information you need to make informed decisions.
Below are some general questions we would like you to think about and add any inquiry or comment you may have in the comment section. All inquiries made are on our secure servers and held in the strictest of confidence.
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- How do you fell about the overall performance of your Marketing Department?
- Do you think there is room for improvement?
- What areas would improve if you could?
- What would you like to implement if it was cost effective for you?
I think that we might have some answers that may surprise you or you may not have thought about that can help you be more efficient and effective in a cost effective way.
Events anchor any business to their local community. Which is why real-time event ‘live’ media marketing that broadcasts across every online digital and traditional marketing channel can be a game changing experience.
If you are planning an event there are many things you can do today to enhance the impact and reach of your event to gain a much larger audience.
You already have an audience in your database of existing customers. By creating an onsite community you can make existing sales and service customers and employees members all of whom can help you get your message out by commenting and blogging about you and the event before, during and after the event takes place.
Enlisting them in your community can provide many other benefits that can draw you existing customer and employee base much closer and if structured properly can benefit both you and your members in many ways. (Social Communities Can Redefine Customer Experience)
Imagine blog casting, social casting, and mobile applications all working together to engage existing, potential viewers and fans with GPS galleries that comb your area to attract visibility to the event both during and after it’s over. By creating and implementing social casting tools and applications that span the digital realm all integrated to take your business right into the heart of the action.
Events Marketing can also be used as a multichannel online sales or advertising event tool to enhance your inbound leads.
All this combined with an onsite social community platform gives you the most powerful socialcasting capabilities available in the marketplace today.
What is Socialcasting?Socialcasting is not a new phenomenon but new technologies have provided more effective ways in which to capitalize on it.
It has developed out of several technology trends including instant messaging, videoconferencing; social networking; blogging; video sharing and streaming information and photos in “Real Time†across the internet.
Socialcasting is a movement in online and onsite video and generated content that combines traditional media content, social networking, and interactive community to create a unique experience for viewers on the internet.
Some have called socialcasting where Web 2.0 meets TV 2.0, offering new ways for video content to be experienced and shared by viewers in an online community.
A Web 2.0 site or a social community allow users to interact and communicate with each other as creators of user-generated content in a virtual community, in contrast to websites where people are limited to the passive viewing of content.
This Social integration is the process of linking information--whether in blogs, forums or other networking options--to the Internet. Search engines and communities are instantly alerted to the presence of a particular item. This allows users to quickly find what they need when they need it.
More and more companies are creating onsite social communities for their customers in which to interact. Companies can read the needs and concerns of their customers in new ways and can benefit from the relevant content being generated in the community via comments and articles that can be integrated into their Digital marketing initiatives.
Socialcasting is also seeing a lot of success in “real time events marketing.†On site events are seeing a much greater impact and reaching a much larger audience by going beyond the physical location and traditional medias by simultaneously broadcasting the event over the internet and through social channels. Through streaming photos and video, texting, blogging and social networking many people are engaged which causes the event to virtually feed on itself before, during and after the event.
This all draws attention to drive traffic that otherwise would not be reached.
The use of Socialcasting in digital marketing has increased in popularity but has been being used very successfully for many years. Sporting events of all kinds have been big beneficiaries of socialcasting using the internet and is now being utilized more and more for conferences and onsite promotions with great success.
Socialcasting in its many forms can boost page ranking and drive traffic in ways that no other form of media can.
Socialcasting can make a big impact in your overall marketing efforts and is something that any business can benefit from. Technology is constantly providing us with new and creative ways of marketing. Socialcasting is a product of all this new technology and is an indirect social content driven way of getting your message out, creating attention and driving traffic.
William Cosgrove
Bill Cosgrove Straight Talk
Social media marketing has changed the approach to selling today and requires a new perspective on how to attract clients. If we listen to what is happening in the marketplace today across social media channels inbound marketing offers a higher probability of conversion than outbound marketing strategies.
This applies not only to the B2C sector but also to the B2B sectors where people’s expectations have shifted to being educated and informed first and engaging with a company in their own way in their own time.
Another point to make is how important the relationship is after the sale.  In Gerry Morin’s article below he indirectly refers to a fact that I and others have been stressing for years, “I have purchased over 10 cars in my lifetime and cannot remember any of the names, faces or other details of the people who sold them to me. However, I remember every car mechanic I’ve ever worked with. I remember each of them because we built a trusting relationship. They taught me and did not sell me. They showed me how to maintain my car and advised me on what to look for when buying a new car. They were my trusted advisor who helped me fix my current problem and frame my future purchase. Wow!â€,
The sale takes but a fleeting moment to conclude compared to the relationship with the customer after the sale that will last for years if nurtured properly and pay you back many times over. See Focus on the Heart and Not Just The Wallet
William Cosgrove
Bill Cosgrove Straight Talk
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This applies not only to the B2C sector but also to the B2B sectors where people’s expectations have shifted to being educated and informed first and engaging with a company in their own way in their own time.
Another point to make is how important the relationship is after the sale.  In Gerry Morin’s article below he indirectly refers to a fact that I and others have been stressing for years, “I have purchased over 10 cars in my lifetime and cannot remember any of the names, faces or other details of the people who sold them to me. However, I remember every car mechanic I’ve ever worked with. I remember each of them because we built a trusting relationship. They taught me and did not sell me. They showed me how to maintain my car and advised me on what to look for when buying a new car. They were my trusted advisor who helped me fix my current problem and frame my future purchase. Wow!â€,
The sale takes but a fleeting moment to conclude compared to the relationship with the customer after the sale that will last for years if nurtured properly and pay you back many times over. See Focus on the Heart and Not Just The Wallet
William Cosgrove
Bill Cosgrove Straight Talk
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10 Ways To Teach Your Customers to Buy From You
When it comes successful social selling and meeting your sales quota, being more like a car mechanic, instead of a car salesman, might be the key to your success. Huh? How are you going to meet your quota if you don’t act like the tenacious and famous car salesman, Cal Worthington?
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I have purchased over 10 cars in my lifetime and cannot remember any of the names, faces or other details of the people who sold them to me. However, I remember every car mechanic I’ve ever worked with. I remember each of them because we built a trusting relationship. They taught me and did not sell me. They showed me how to maintain my car and advised me on what to look for when buying a new car. They were my trusted advisor who helped me fix my current problem and frame my future purchase. Wow!When it comes successful social selling and meeting your sales quota, being more like a car mechanic, instead of a car salesman, might be the key to your success. Huh? How are you going to meet your quota if you don’t act like the tenacious and famous car salesman, Cal Worthington?
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Whether you are selling enterprise software solutions in the cloud or trading show shipping services you can position yourself as a teacher, like my car mechanics, and reap the rewards of being a top seller.
Social Selling Lessons | Be A Teacher Not A Seller1. Differentiate Yourself From The Sales Sharks. With InsideView reporting that 90% of CEO’s do not return cold emails or calls, becoming a trusted advisor and teacher to your customers makes sense. It’s the only way to break through to them. Don’t ‘look’ like the typical sales professional and you will separate yourself form the herd of sales sharks.
2. Don’t Be All About Making A Deal. Instead of focusing on a small amount of sales, build a large social network people modeled after your customers and their influencers. 75% of B2B decision makers use social media to learn. So, plug into this larger network, to bust your quota.
3. Pass On Valuable Information. Don’t use your social media and network channels to promote your solutions. Pass on valuable information, instead, to lead the conversation to you when the time is right to buy. You want to be known for handing out knowledge and not brochures.
4. Associate Yourself With Great 3rd-part Brands. You are the company you keep, so keep good company. Associate yourself with great knowledge brands, like Harvard Business Review, Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal, to build your reputation and brand.
5. Think Outside The Trade-Show Booth. Cast the trade booth sales mentality away and spread your knowledge so people will eventually visit your trade booth when it’s time to buy; 73% of customers are willing to engage with you on social media, so get to it!
6. Use Social Media To Teach And Not Sell. Selling is best done face-to-face. However, Social Media Today reports B2B buyers look at an average of over 10 digital resources before ever making a purchase. Since customers need to learn before they buy, use this opportunity on social media to connect. Your customers are there whether or not you are.
7. Teach And Connect With Today’s Technology. Connect and get on the radar of your customers and potential networks by retweeting, sharing, commenting and favoriting others’ content. Intersecting with their learning tools is a great way to build a relationship instead of finding and phoning them from a LinkedIn search. LinkedIn reports 85% of IT Decision Makers use social networks for business, so your future customers are waiting for you to socially engage.
8. Develop Insights. Before you teach and connect with your customers, you need to listen to the customer and their customers. Listening is a great way to prepare for your connections and calls. SirisuDecisions reports 82% B2B decision makers think sales representatives are unprepared for meetings, so this insight-driven approach will help you build the best social selling lesson plan.
9. Tap Into The Ready-made Network. There is an entire social community on LinkedIn, Twitter and blogs, where customers are tapping to learn how to be smarter, more effective, more efficient to make more money. Determine how to tap into this potential, leverage the rules of engagement, and position yourself as a teacher; especially since the Sales Benchmark Index reports reps with 5000+ linked in connections have a 98% chance of attaining quota.
10. Be A Publisher. In addition to curating and passing on the great content to your network, create your own assets on a blog. Blogging is the social selling secret weapon. Hubspot reports that 92% of companies that blog multiple times per day have acquired a customer from their blog, so this strategy seems like a no-brainer!
Do you have another teaching tip to share? If so, please comment below. Or, contact me directly at MarketingThink.com, on LinkedIn, Twitter or Google+.
If you are looking to set yourself up as a social selling teacher, you might enjoy learning how to:
- Create the perfect LinkedIn profile
- Create the perfect Twitter profile
- How to create the perfect blog post
By Gerry Moran
Image Source: BTSTire.com
Lessons from Threadless: Why building online community can unlock e-commerce success
Tags:
(Posted on Feb 23, 2014 at 01:50PM )
The success of companies who have found the value of having an onsite community is all around us. It lets you connect and stay close to your customers and employees in ways that cannot be accomplished by any other means.
More and more companies are creating onsite social communities for their customers in which to interact. Companies can read the needs and concerns of their customers in new ways and can benefit from the relevant content being generated in the community via comments and articles that can be integrated into their Digital marketing initiatives.
It shows that you are customer and employee centric and can produce a culture of brand ambassadors that can be broadcast across the internet and your social channels to greatly increase traffic to your site by people who will already have confidence in you as a company who is dedicated to serving its customers, employees and community.
These communities provide for limitless marketing opportunities at a fraction of the cost of any other form of marketing.
 Below Caitlin Fitzsimmons social media editor for BRW shares another success story that an onsite social community has brought to this ecommerce company.  However, onsite communities can be customized to any company in any industry to provide the same kind of results.
William Cosgrove
Bill Cosgrove Straight Talk
Related content:
Focus on the Heart and Not Just The Wallet
Todd Lido:Â The idea for Threadless began when CEO and founder Jake Nickell began hosting T-shirt design challenges on a design forum. Jake saw how much everyone was enjoying these challenges, and realised it could be a great model to source incredible artwork for T-shirts.
BRW:Â How has Threadless grown and changed since then?
Lido:Â Over a decade later, the community continues to grow. Artists from all over the world submit on Threadless. We received submissions from artists in 71 different countries last month.
One of the great things about the community-based design model is there is no singular Threadless look or design sense. That said, it’s been interesting to see the aesthetics of what the community produces and which products are popular evolve over time.
We continue evolving the model to make it work better, both for Threadless as a business and for the artists who participate. We want to make sure Threadless stays the best platform in the world for artists to come together, share and monetise their work.
BRW:Â How is community and social marketing baked into what you do?
Lido: At its core, Threadless is a platform for connecting artists. So a community-centric approach to communication is very natural for us. We aim to inspire creativity and individuality and keep Threadless fun. It’s partly about managing a community of artists – engaging them in design submissions through themed design challenges, encouraging constructive feedback and collaboration and celebrating success in the community. And it’s partly about making a meaningful connection between artists and the rest of the community that supports them. We really want to keep a focus on the idea that when you buy from Threadless, you are supporting independent artists.
BRW:Â What have you learned about social marketing that might be useful for other companies?
Lido: Think about what makes your offering unique and what resonates most with the audience. Where is the emotional connection that’s going to make the audience want to share your content? Strive to mirror the tone of your communications with the conversations that are happening within your community. I’m sure that some marketers, especially in the business-to-business space, might think that doesn’t apply, but keep in mind at the end of the day your goal is to connect with people too. I definitely encourage as much playful experimentation with different types of content as possible. And pay attention to your social metrics while you experiment. You might be surprised by the results.
BRW:Â What have you done well and what would you do differently if you had your time over?
Lido: I’m most proud of the work we’ve done celebrating artists and telling the stories of the real people who make Threadless what it is. (Some great examples can be found here.)
I’m always dissatisfied when we do anything that doesn’t reinforce the narrative of community-based design. If we have a promotion which is only about “buy these discounted teesâ€, then it could be a promo for any retailer. If what we are talking about doesn’t represent the community behind Threadless, we might as well have stayed home that day.
BRW:Â What are some of the key things you plan to cover in your conference presentation?
Lido: I’m really looking forward to it! I actually think I’m going to get more out of the experience than anyone. I’m looking forward to telling the Threadless story and relating ideas for sustainable community engagement. Threadless certainly has a unique story, but there’s a lot to draw from which is relevant to almost any organisation seeking to grow its online community.
I’ll talk a little about our core mission, the business model and culture and how they inform everything else we do. I will walk through examples of how community participation informs business decisions. I plan on going into detail about our content marketing strategy and how we pull stories out of our community. There will be relatable examples of what has worked for us on a channel and campaign level, especially social media examples. And I will also talk about the balancing act of driving marketing strategy with both community and e-commerce goals, and how these don’t have to be at odds with each other.
By Caitlin Fitzsimmons
More and more companies are creating onsite social communities for their customers in which to interact. Companies can read the needs and concerns of their customers in new ways and can benefit from the relevant content being generated in the community via comments and articles that can be integrated into their Digital marketing initiatives.
It shows that you are customer and employee centric and can produce a culture of brand ambassadors that can be broadcast across the internet and your social channels to greatly increase traffic to your site by people who will already have confidence in you as a company who is dedicated to serving its customers, employees and community.
These communities provide for limitless marketing opportunities at a fraction of the cost of any other form of marketing.
 Below Caitlin Fitzsimmons social media editor for BRW shares another success story that an onsite social community has brought to this ecommerce company.  However, onsite communities can be customized to any company in any industry to provide the same kind of results.
William Cosgrove
Bill Cosgrove Straight Talk
Related content:
Focus on the Heart and Not Just The Wallet
Threadless is a T-shirt company with a twist: artists submit designs, Threadless members vote on their favourites, the winners get paid and the T-shirts are produced and sold online.
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Chicago-based Threadless started in 2000 with $1000 and is now widely estimated to have more than $30Â million in revenue.
The intriguing thing about the business is how it was borne out of the idea of an online community of artists and designers. Artists submit designs, Threadless members vote on their favourites, the winners get paid and the T-shirts are produced and sold through the shop at Threadless.com. It is worth reading this profile of Threadless (and the reader comments) in Chicago Magazine.
Threadless has more than 2 million members and a social presence that includes more than 800,000 fans on Facebook and 2.2 million Twitter followers. Chief marketing officer Todd Lido is giving a keynote at the E-commerce Conference & Expo in Melbourne from March 26-27 on the company’s strategy for community building and engagement.
BRW:Â What was the initial idea behind Threadless and how did it all start?
The intriguing thing about the business is how it was borne out of the idea of an online community of artists and designers. Artists submit designs, Threadless members vote on their favourites, the winners get paid and the T-shirts are produced and sold through the shop at Threadless.com. It is worth reading this profile of Threadless (and the reader comments) in Chicago Magazine.
Threadless has more than 2 million members and a social presence that includes more than 800,000 fans on Facebook and 2.2 million Twitter followers. Chief marketing officer Todd Lido is giving a keynote at the E-commerce Conference & Expo in Melbourne from March 26-27 on the company’s strategy for community building and engagement.
BRW:Â What was the initial idea behind Threadless and how did it all start?
Todd Lido:Â The idea for Threadless began when CEO and founder Jake Nickell began hosting T-shirt design challenges on a design forum. Jake saw how much everyone was enjoying these challenges, and realised it could be a great model to source incredible artwork for T-shirts.BRW:Â How has Threadless grown and changed since then?
Lido:Â Over a decade later, the community continues to grow. Artists from all over the world submit on Threadless. We received submissions from artists in 71 different countries last month.
One of the great things about the community-based design model is there is no singular Threadless look or design sense. That said, it’s been interesting to see the aesthetics of what the community produces and which products are popular evolve over time.
We continue evolving the model to make it work better, both for Threadless as a business and for the artists who participate. We want to make sure Threadless stays the best platform in the world for artists to come together, share and monetise their work.
BRW:Â How is community and social marketing baked into what you do?
Lido: At its core, Threadless is a platform for connecting artists. So a community-centric approach to communication is very natural for us. We aim to inspire creativity and individuality and keep Threadless fun. It’s partly about managing a community of artists – engaging them in design submissions through themed design challenges, encouraging constructive feedback and collaboration and celebrating success in the community. And it’s partly about making a meaningful connection between artists and the rest of the community that supports them. We really want to keep a focus on the idea that when you buy from Threadless, you are supporting independent artists.
BRW:Â What have you learned about social marketing that might be useful for other companies?
Lido: Think about what makes your offering unique and what resonates most with the audience. Where is the emotional connection that’s going to make the audience want to share your content? Strive to mirror the tone of your communications with the conversations that are happening within your community. I’m sure that some marketers, especially in the business-to-business space, might think that doesn’t apply, but keep in mind at the end of the day your goal is to connect with people too. I definitely encourage as much playful experimentation with different types of content as possible. And pay attention to your social metrics while you experiment. You might be surprised by the results.
BRW:Â What have you done well and what would you do differently if you had your time over?
Lido: I’m most proud of the work we’ve done celebrating artists and telling the stories of the real people who make Threadless what it is. (Some great examples can be found here.)
I’m always dissatisfied when we do anything that doesn’t reinforce the narrative of community-based design. If we have a promotion which is only about “buy these discounted teesâ€, then it could be a promo for any retailer. If what we are talking about doesn’t represent the community behind Threadless, we might as well have stayed home that day.
BRW:Â What are some of the key things you plan to cover in your conference presentation?
Lido: I’m really looking forward to it! I actually think I’m going to get more out of the experience than anyone. I’m looking forward to telling the Threadless story and relating ideas for sustainable community engagement. Threadless certainly has a unique story, but there’s a lot to draw from which is relevant to almost any organisation seeking to grow its online community.
I’ll talk a little about our core mission, the business model and culture and how they inform everything else we do. I will walk through examples of how community participation informs business decisions. I plan on going into detail about our content marketing strategy and how we pull stories out of our community. There will be relatable examples of what has worked for us on a channel and campaign level, especially social media examples. And I will also talk about the balancing act of driving marketing strategy with both community and e-commerce goals, and how these don’t have to be at odds with each other.
By Caitlin Fitzsimmons
As promised, I am following up on my article from yesterday “Do You Want a Company of 'Heroes or Zeros?' which came about from an article that received a lot of comments entitled “The Secret to Delighting Customers? Put Employees First†That brings up problems in the workplace that we all have encountered and all need to find solutions for.Bad Management
Bad management runs rampant in organizations.  Always be suspect when in an interview when a manager says “What goes on here stays here†or “It’s my way or the highwayâ€.
A good manager is secure in his or her position and is someone who can encourage ideas and foster an atmosphere of openness and collaboration. An insecure manager or bad manager will not hold on to good people and many times staff does not want to go to upper management for fear of retribution. This has devastating effects on performance of the department. Â
All emotions stem from insecurity and must be controlled because it has no place in a workplace setting or anywhere else for that matter. It is a disease that will eat away at and hold back any organization.
An insecure manager will isolate themselves and more often than not hold people their ideas and consequently the business back because he or she are afraid of losing their position to someone else who they feel may be seen as more qualified. If someone is in fear of losing their job to someone under any circumstance, they probably should not have gotten the job in the first place.
There are many other factors that define a bad manager. One kind of manager is the one who is inconsistent saying one thing and doing another without explaining their actions and who is arrogant in believing they are always right and makes sure everyone knows it. This type of manager is often egocentric and makes every issue about them, doesn’t listen to advice offered but ignores it before even considering it. This inhibits the staff from even mentioning any ideas they may have and leaves them feeling helpless and feeling that nothing will ever be done to improve on a bad situation.
 These managers are also often self-centered and do not support, encourage or look out for their team. The worst are mean and abusive and make people feel bad for no reason.
Then there are managers who micro-manage and refuse to delegate anything, despite what they say. This isolates them so they often don’t involve others in decisions and rarely look for ways to support or encourage the work of their team. This is often is caused by incompetence or the lack of basic communication, intellectual, or emotional skills needed to for their role.
 And the complacent manager is content with the way things are and is not open to change. They like things the way they are because they have become lazy or are afraid to rock the boat for fear that things might take a turn for the worse or jeopardize their position.
One experience I had when I was still a salesperson at a dealership where there were 24 salespeople we had a GM who we called “Little Caesar.†This title came from his short stature and dictatorial style of managing. He would hold three to four meetings a day and would rant and rave and almost every day a salesperson would end up getting fired. He would always say “Your weak, give me your plate and keys, you’re all doneâ€
Another time The GM as the son of the owner who raced sailboats and was rarely at the dealership. Â I believe this had an effect on our GSM because he spent more time outside the dealership hobnobbing with hockey players from the Boston Bruins who were spokesman for the dealership and relying on myself and my counterpart to run the daily sales operations.
I have also be part of organizations where a manager spent valuable company time in generating options as solutions to a problem but the problem was created by this same manager. Incompetent managers create more problems than they solve and then waste time to solve the same problems they created in the first place.
I have given some example here of what I have run into over the years being part of the workforce. These experiences convinced me to spend most of my working career being self-employed trying to avoid the pitfalls that bad management can inflict.
Let’s hear some of your experiences of how it has or may be affecting you and thoughts on possible solutions for this age old problem and human condition that affects the performance of so many businesses.
William Cosgrove
Bill Cosgrove Straight Talk
We are all looking for that magic elixir that will keep people visiting our sites and result in conversions of one kind or another. Although it is not magic there are recipes that include ingredients for an overall marketing mix that can please the most discerning palates.
Conversion marketing is an eCommerce term that is the conversion of website visits into sales although today some measure conversions that result in some type of engagement other than a sale. Examples of this would be a campaign to sign up visitors to a newsletter or downloading a white paper or some type of interaction to gain contact information for further engagement.
However the desired end result in any type of conversion marketing is the eventual sale of a product or service.
Using content to drive site visits has become one of the most successful tools today in conversion marketing as customers want to be informed about products or services and left to make their own decision in their own time on who offers the best product or service that fits their needs and how a company fits their overall expectations when it comes to customer service and or sense of community.
Using content to drive conversions is a constant work in progress to Improve and focus the content of the website (which may include text, pictures and video) to target conversion.
Generating user reviews of the product or service has become a good way to instill trust and create social buzz through social sharing of individual experiences, satisfaction and recommendations.
Improve credibility and trust by showing third-party trust logos and by good site design. Site design must be structured so that users can navigate the site without thinking too much about where to click.
As consumers tend to abandon sites after only three clicks, online chat can be an effective tool for live engagement to produce more conversions during customer visits. Click to call also supports cross-channel conversion without losing the context of the conversation when visitors move from the website to the phone.
After the fact re-target and nurture by Identifying the visitors interested in particular products or services based on previous site search to offer relevant content through targeted ad placement and e-mail personalization that contain recommendations and content that make the customer feel it was tailored personally for them .
Targeting offers attempts to fit the right promotion with the right customer based upon behavioral and demographic information.
Use AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action) to move the user through the conversion process and you'll be well on your way.
William Cosgrove
Bill Cosgrove Straight Talk
Most of the actions we take in marketing are oriented in two directions: First we present our products / services for users to find us when they make a spontaneous decision and perform an action that had not been raised in advance or the Push strategy (Outbound Marketing). Secondly using content to draw someone with content when they have a need to search to get information is what is referred to as the Pull strategy (In bound Marketing.)Outbound marketing strategies are carried out to provide the products / services to potential customers. E-mail marketing is a big part of this technique, but gradually promotions and discounts using tweets or Facebook posts have been displacing traditional e-mails. Whatever the technique, the Push Marketing is boosting buying action through promotions and discounts.
Today, inbound marketing offers a higher probability of conversion, as it is the customer who is drawn to you with relevant content providing information pertaining to what they need or are looking for. Inbound marketing happens with the consent of the prospective buyer who has given prior permission for you to send advertising, typically through a contact form, mailing lists or newsletter.
Brian Conlin recently shared this in a recent article “It’s no secret that content marketing has become ubiquitous. After all, 93 percent of B2B marketers use it, a bump of 2 percentage points from 2012. However, just how effective content marketing is might surprise you. Despite costing 62 percent less than traditional marketing, content marketing generates about three times as many leads.†59 Killer Content Marketing Stats: 2014 Edition—via B2C.
Today, people prefer to be informed and educated with relevant content that relates to their interest on a particular product or service they are researching and the ones with the most relevant content in their inbound marketing now will have the best chance of being contacted to begin the communication process with the intention of eventually winning their business.
Although both outbound and inbound marketing should be a part of your overall mix, the days of pushing your message to gain people’s attention is quickly fading and inbound marketing is taking prominence and statistics are showing the benefits that Inbound marketing offers.
William Cosgrove
Bill Cosgrove Straight Talk
The importance of an integrated marketing plan is important to provide consistency across all your marketing channels.Your ad design and message should function in harmony so when the customer hears and ad on the radio or sees and ad in a newspaper or magazine and takes that next step to visit your website site they can recognize from what they saw or heard that they are in the right place from the uniformity across your marketing channels.
First Impressions
We all know that first impressions can often be the deciding factor and good website design as the first impression is critical and is going to determine if someone is going to engage with your site or not.
And never before has your company’s website’s first impression been more important. If people land on your site and it looks old, outdated or they just plain don’t like it – they leave – and most often will not return.
Now, thanks to search engines algorithms bad web design and poor navigation will get you poor search rankings. Search engines watch people’s habits in an effort to produce better search rankings.
So with that thought in mind search engines reward sites that have good navigation and design with higher organic search rankings because they stay longer and navigate deeper. Compare that to a poorly designed web site that people simply land on the site and leave because of its look – Sites are then penalized and placed far down on the organic search list.
 This makes Good website design the foundation on which all your marketing efforts will be based and will determine the flow of guiding someone through the process of making a purchase or having the opportunity to follow up with them to nurture them up to the point at which they are ready to make a purchase.
Behind The Scene
Once you tackle the task of having a well designed website with great content and properly placed calls to action you must then be sure that you have a functional, easy to use and fully integrated marketing platform working behind the scene from which to control everything and launch your marketing initiatives.
Good website design will open the door to potential customers but the marketing platform technology is the engine that is going to give you the tools necessary to obtain information, communicate, analyze and drive all your online marketing.
Good website design and the platform technology behind are the foundation on which you are going to build your online presence and will determine how effective you can be.
Your website and the technology that powers it is where it all starts. These are the building blocks that are going to mean the difference in how effectively your marketing initiatives reach your audience.
Today Digital Marketing has the biggest impact of all your marketing initiatives. You need to have the latest technology from a company that is constantly creating better ways to keep your digital marketing effective.
You might think that what you already have in place is good enough but is good enough- good enough? There have been a lot of changes and your current technology, if outdated, could now be working against you. You cannot afford to be complacent in today’s Digital Marketplace.
You might have created the next great marketing campaign that is going have everyone hitting those retweets and like buttons and sharing it with all their friends. But if you don’t have the latest updated technology powering it- that great marketing campaign may not fulfill your expectations.
Great innovative technology is what is going to power your everyday “bread and butter† social media, earned media and paid marketing campaigns that will get you noticed - get your message out and keep it there.
William Cosgrove
Bill Cosgrove Straight Talk
Being nimble on your feet and being able to move fast has its advantages when competing in the marketplace.This has always been the case and reasons that one business may succeed where others do not.
By finding a niche to focus your efforts on to gain exposure you can get the attention you need to show the advantage of working with your company over another.
By highlighting an advantage of your service or product to gain that attention you open up the door to form the relationships that will make it easier to communicate all that you have to offer.
Today, online marketing provides the forum in which to get your message out to more potential clients or customers than ever before. Cutting through all the noise may seem like an impossible task but persistence and creativity can make the difference in getting noticed and making those crucial contacts necessary to move forward and be successful.
However, online marketing as important as it is in today’s business plans should just be one of the tools in your quiver to get exposure and produce leads. You must also incorporate traditional approaches like getting out and talking to people and using the telephone and get up close and personal.
There is still no substitute for physical contact to get your point across to convince potential clients of the value you can offer them. If getting out and meeting people to discuss the benefits you can bring them is not one of your strong points, find someone who has the personality and experience who has these qualities.
No one person possess all the qualities needed to run a business and make it successful and those who realize and accept this will move forward at a much faster pace and be more successful.
If you are to succeed you must use every option available to you and implement them in your business plan and figure out ways to make them work for you, be willing to experiment make mistakes learn from them and you will be on your way.
In his classic book, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Peter F. Drucker describes innovation as a delicate dance between perception and analysis. Analysis, with all its discipline, must be based on a perception of change: “This requires a willingness to say, I don’t actually know enough to analyze, but I shall find out. I’ll go out, look around, ask questions, and listen.’â€
In an age of unanswerable questions, asking the right question might just be the answer.
Here is another thought to keep in mind that is good advice from a very charismatic women who you all have probably heard of Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of Franklin Delano Roosevelt our 32 President,  said “ Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself. “
William CosgroveÂ
According to Nielson, The Hispanic consumer represents the greatest potential for sustained growth in the U.S. today. At the current rate of expansion, Hispanics will drive population growth and, in turn, consumption in America for the next generation. Reaching Hispanics effectively should be at the top of every marketer’s to-do list. Hispanics actively embrace new technologies and platforms, while keeping close ties to their roots, especially language. And while Hispanics do consume English-language media, Spanish-language media holds the key to connecting with the greatest number of Hispanic consumers most effectively.
Nielsen breaks down the prevailing myths surrounding Hispanic interaction with today’s media.
MYTH #1:
There is a belief that once Hispanics learn to speak English well and become bilingual, they become “acculturated†and use English as their primary language. However, acculturation is a process rather than an absolute classification whereby Hispanics adopt American customs while still guarding their culture, heritage and traditions. While 77 percent of U.S. Hispanics speak English well, according to current American Community Survey estimates, 61 percent of Hispanics aged 18+ tell Nielsen they prefer to speak Spanish in their homes versus only 17 percent who say they speak only English. Spanish language remains a core component of the Hispanic home long after English proficiency is gained
Monique Manso, publisher of People en Espanol, cautioned that publishers entering this space -- whether in English or Spanish -- need to speak to Hispanic consumers in a contextually relevant way. "There is the danger of not speaking to them correctly," she said.
MYTH #2:
 I can reach Hispanics through my general market campaigns; SPANISH-LANGUAGE ADVERTISING IS AN EXPENDABLE PART OF MY BUDGET. Besides providing access to a unique audience, Spanish-language advertising is generally more effective than English-language advertising for Hispanics. Nielsen’s advertising effectiveness studies show that advertisers who translate English ads into Spanish receive an increase in general recall among Hispanics when compared to general market English-language commercials. However, original Spanish ads (ads that do not have an English counterpart or that are based on existing ads by modifying the narrative and soundtrack) see a 15 percent general recall lift from English-dominant Hispanics and a 69 percent general recall increase from Spanish-dominant Hispanics. Two reasons for this effect are that Spanish ads create a deeper personal connection to Hispanic consumers and Hispanics are less likely to time shift Spanish-language programming.
Michael Sebastian AdAge Media News "Publishing companies realized they had to do a specific product for these consumers," he said. "It was not just about adding a couple of pages in their main book to reach these consumers."Â
MYTH #3:
HISPANICS are late adopters of technology, so using online and mobile campaigns is unnecessary. New studies are finding that Hispanics are equally, if not more involved in emerging technologies than the general market. A recent look at Nielsen’s national people meter panel reveals that Hispanics are just as likely as non-Hispanics to own an HDTV (69% vs.66%). And Nielsen’s 2010 Q4 mobile insights survey of more than 50,000 people and more than 8,000 Hispanics reveals that Hispanics are not only more likely to own a smartphone, but also they are part of the most valuable mobile consumer segments, carrying an average monthly bill that is 14 percent higher than the market average. Hispanics also lead all ethnic groups with an average of 40 percent more calls made per day and are the most likely ethnic group to use text messaging, mobile Internet and e-mail. They are also more likely to download pictures or music on mobile devices.
The Hispanic consumer represents the greatest potential for sustained growth in the U.S. today. At the current rate of expansion, Hispanics will drive population growth and, in turn, consumption in America for the next generation. Reaching Hispanics effectively should be at the top of every marketer’s to-do list. Hispanics actively embrace new technologies and platforms, while keeping close ties to their roots, especially language. And while Hispanics do consume English-language media, Spanish-language media holds the key to connecting with the greatest number of Hispanic consumers most effectively.
Nielsen breaks down the prevailing myths surrounding Hispanic interaction with today’s media.
MYTH #1:
There is a belief that once Hispanics learn to speak English well and become bilingual, they become “acculturated†and use English as their primary language. However, acculturation is a process rather than an absolute classification whereby Hispanics adopt American customs while still guarding their culture, heritage and traditions. While 77 percent of U.S. Hispanics speak English well, according to current American Community Survey estimates, 61 percent of Hispanics aged 18+ tell Nielsen they prefer to speak Spanish in their homes versus only 17 percent who say they speak only English. Spanish language remains a core component of the Hispanic home long after English proficiency is gained
Monique Manso, publisher of People en Espanol, cautioned that publishers entering this space -- whether in English or Spanish -- need to speak to Hispanic consumers in a contextually relevant way. "There is the danger of not speaking to them correctly," she said.
MYTH #2:
 I can reach Hispanics through my general market campaigns; SPANISH-LANGUAGE ADVERTISING IS AN EXPENDABLE PART OF MY BUDGET. Besides providing access to a unique audience, Spanish-language advertising is generally more effective than English-language advertising for Hispanics. Nielsen’s advertising effectiveness studies show that advertisers who translate English ads into Spanish receive an increase in general recall among Hispanics when compared to general market English-language commercials. However, original Spanish ads (ads that do not have an English counterpart or that are based on existing ads by modifying the narrative and soundtrack) see a 15 percent general recall lift from English-dominant Hispanics and a 69 percent general recall increase from Spanish-dominant Hispanics. Two reasons for this effect are that Spanish ads create a deeper personal connection to Hispanic consumers and Hispanics are less likely to time shift Spanish-language programming.
Michael Sebastian AdAge Media News "Publishing companies realized they had to do a specific product for these consumers," he said. "It was not just about adding a couple of pages in their main book to reach these consumers."Â
MYTH #3:
HISPANICS are late adopters of technology, so using online and mobile campaigns is unnecessary. New studies are finding that Hispanics are equally, if not more involved in emerging technologies than the general market. A recent look at Nielsen’s national people meter panel reveals that Hispanics are just as likely as non-Hispanics to own an HDTV (69% vs.66%). And Nielsen’s 2010 Q4 mobile insights survey of more than 50,000 people and more than 8,000 Hispanics reveals that Hispanics are not only more likely to own a smartphone, but also they are part of the most valuable mobile consumer segments, carrying an average monthly bill that is 14 percent higher than the market average. Hispanics also lead all ethnic groups with an average of 40 percent more calls made per day and are the most likely ethnic group to use text messaging, mobile Internet and e-mail. They are also more likely to download pictures or music on mobile devices.
The Hispanic consumer represents the greatest potential for sustained growth in the U.S. today. At the current rate of expansion, Hispanics will drive population growth and, in turn, consumption in America for the next generation. Reaching Hispanics effectively should be at the top of every marketer’s to-do list. Hispanics actively embrace new technologies and platforms, while keeping close ties to their roots, especially language. And while Hispanics do consume English-language media, Spanish-language media holds the key to connecting with the greatest number of Hispanic consumers most effectively.
The Hispanic segment of the US Population Represent the 13th largest economy in the world and are the youngest, fastest growing segment of the US population representing 60 % of overall population growth here in the US.
The tremendous Buying power of Hispanics is growing exponentially including a current per capita income of ($39,730) that is closing in on the national average ($57,009.00) makes it important to finds ways to effectively penetrate this market now and into the future.
Hispanic households defined as having an income of $75,000 or more have more than doubled accounting for 75% of all Hispanic Consumers. Their buying power will be worth over 680 billion dollars by 2015.
More than 8 in 10 (82%) Latino Adults say they speak Spanish and nearly all (95%) say it is important for future generations to do so.
54% of Spanish- dominant Hispanics are “Much more loyal to companies that show appreciation of our culture by advertising in Spanish.
Hispanics are the largest users of internet and mobile data services of any segment of the population in the US.
Hispanics are:
The most community minded segment of the US population
The most socially active segment of the US population
The most connected segment of the US Population
Monique Manso, publisher of People en Espanol, cautioned that publishers entering this space -- whether in English or Spanish -- need to speak to Hispanic consumers in a contextually relevant way. "There is the danger of not speaking to them correctly," she said.
William Cosgrove
Additional Must read material:
A Market not to be Ingnored
Statistics:
(United States Census Bureau & Income Pew Research Center 2012.)
Humphries J, The multicultural economy 2012
Selig Center for economic growth 2012
Nielson Pop-Facts 2011-2016